yukta-ruupam idaM c' aaiva
shuddha-sattvasya cetasaH
yat te syaan naiShThike suukShme
shreyasi shraddadhaanataa.
= - = - - = = -
= - = = - = - =
= = = = - = = =
= - = = - = - =
12.30
And this is fitting indeed
For the consciousness
of one whose essence is simplicity:
That in a supreme and subtle
Higher good you should have confidence.
COMMENT:
What the Buddha is talking about here, as I hear him, is the supreme and subtle practice of non-doing, the key to which is the principle of inhibiting unconscious reaction to a stimulus -- a stimulus, for example, such as desire for celestial nymphs. This principle of inhibition is not only a principle to believe in, and is not only a principle to trust, but it is a principle one can actually have confidence in, and that confidence can grow year by year, like an acorn growing into a bush which can, if the conditions are right, become a mighty oak.
The difference between faith and belief as cultivated in spiritual religion, and trust and confidence as cultivated in practical work on the self, it seems to me, is that the former arises out of fear whereas the latter arises out of knowing that there is nothing to fear. And nowhere is this better seen than in the application of the principles of Alexander work to the teaching of very nervous swimmers.
In Alexander work we get to know from our own experience that when we really apply the principle of inhibition, it really works. The supreme and subtle principle of inhibition makes a bridge between wrong doing and non-doing, and non-doing is a higher good.
Non-doing is a higher good. That is to say, in the continuing story of human evolution, non-doing dharma is higher up the food chain than doing dharma.
I keep the ignoble cycle of doing going by blindly acting on the desire to gain some end, based on my faulty sense of feeling which, in turn, is deeply rooted in fear.
The higher principle of non-doing requires me to give up that idea which sets off the cycle of end-gaining and doing.
Doing means I just do it, relying on faulty feeling rooted in fear.
Non-doing means I allow to do itself, based on a decision not to do, that decision being rooted in confidence.
Confidence in the principle of non-doing, moreover, makes for simplicity. In the words of FM Alexander, "I am going to give you as few details as possible, because of the primary control."
In doing sitting practice, for example, learning how to control one's posture by direct doing leads to enormous complications What looks or feels like improvement in one area, gained by direct intervention, leads to unintended side effects in another area, and so, as one direct intervention follows another, the whole becomes more and more 'controlled' i.e. held, and spontaneity is lost. Finally, as all the fiddling about and subtle fixing causes the breathing gradually to become restricted, one has to become an expert in abdominal breathing. Thus would-be Zen masters write web pages to share with the unenlightened the secrets of how to breathe, and so the cycle of doing goes on and on.
The indirect principle of non-doing, in contrast, though by no means easy to apply, is enormously simple: Just stop doing the wrong thing and allow the right thing to do itself.
Sitting with the body is doing. Sitting with the mind is effort not to do. Sitting as body and mind dropping off is non-doing. The three can be seen as forming a triangle, whose base is body and mind, and whose apex is body and mind dropping off.
The essence of Master Dogen's teaching, as I understand it, is to practice all three, with the understanding that body and mind dropping off is the higher good.
A final observation I would like to make is that the 3rd and 4th line are particularly rich in long syllables: of 16 syllables, 12 are long. To my admittedly inexperienced Sanskrit ear, this gives the Buddha's voice a re-assuringly unhurried, confidence-inspiring quality.
EH Johnston:
And truly your belief in the ultimate immaterial good befits the mind of one whose being is purified.
Linda Covill:
This is surely an appropriate course for your mind when purified in its essence -- that you might have confidence in the ultimate, subtle Excellence!
VOCABULARY:
yukta-ruupam (accusative): suitably formed , fit , proper (with loc. or gen.)
idam: this
ca: and
eva: (emphatic) truly, surely
shuddha: cleansed , cleared , clean , pure , clear ; free from error , faultless ; pure i.e. simple , mere , genuine , true , unmixed ; upright (» comp.)
sattvasya = genitive of sattva: being , existence ; true essence , nature , disposition of mind , character ; vital breath , life
cetasaH = genitive of cetas: consciousness , intelligence , thinking soul , heart , mind
yat: which
te (genitive): of you, in you
syaat (optative): there might be
naiShThike locative of naiShThika: forming the end , final , last ; definitive , fixed , firm ; highest , perfect , complete
suukShme = locative of suukShma: minute, small ; acute , subtle , keen ; intangible
shreyasi = locative of sreyas: higher good, ultimate good
shraddadhaana: having faith , trustful , believing
shraddadhaanataa: f. belief , faith
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